pretzel

Well the games have been coming thick and fast since the return of the winter break. Back in action at Paisley tonight versus St Mirren, thankfully the chrome dome isn't on ref duties tonight to bail them out with a dodgy penalty. I think we'll come away with all three points in a 2-0 win, Van Veen x2.

It's been a while since we have had a quiet January transfer deadline day, since this was introduced I think the lowest number of signings was just the one under McGhee in 2016 which was Morgaro Gomis. I'm glad that Alexander got most of his transfer business done early, can't help but feel a forward to play through the middle would have been the final piece of the puzzle.

Someone suggested the return of Jamie Murphy earlier in the thread, sounds like he's heading to Mansfield Town on loan.

I assume we will be holding out for a nominal fee for Lamie. Quite a few clubs in the league have lost players to rivals via PCA's this month only for them to be sold a short time later. Good luck to Ricki it'll be nice not to wake up in a cold sweat on match day now.

That's the biggest bugbear for me regarding Scottish referees, I've accepted they're pish but it's the consistency that I find frustrating, even with the same refs in the same games it seems they just make it up as they go. Kelly throws it a short distance away on Saturday and gets a yellow minutes into the match, on Sunday Allan McGregor goes out his way to pick the ball up and punts it well down the pitch to waste time and not a word is spoken.

Frustrating day tbh, first half I felt we were the better side, Van Veen had two great chances, the header should have been buried. It's just annoying that we handed them those three points gift wrapped. Well games are coming thick and fast, St Midden on Tuesday night followed by Celtic on Saturday. We could really do with the three points midweek, thankfully Bobby Madden isn't the ref so no dodgy decisions.

Amaluzor on for Goss

Shields on for Roberts

Awful freekick by Roberts.

2-0 Hearts

I can't say I'm too disheartened at the loss of Lamie, the guy had left me with lasting anxiety issues from the 2019/20 season without having actually seen him in the flesh that season. He obviously improved massively under Alexander, he done a job and scored a handful of nice headers. Good luck to him at Dundee, I think he'll be away asap as they need defensive reinforcements post haste.

1-0 Hearts, the wee neddy guy. Self inflicted sadly.

Maguire off injured. Goss on.

What is the deal on the pass back rule, I get that you can't pick up a direct pass back from your own player but he takes like three touches before he picks it up. I assume thats still a no. I don't know if the wind is causing an issue but Van Veen and Roberts are struggling to control the ball up top, implementing the Ryan Bowman first touch.

Great chance by Van Veen.

Kelly getting a yellow for apparently handling outside the box.

Match day stream http://www.hesgoal.com/news/Hearts_vs_Motherwell.html

I had actually forgot about it at the time but Maguire put in an epic challenge near the end of the game on Wednesday night. Demetri Mitchell was showing how fast he was as he tore up the wing past Slattery, but just before he nipped by someone else Barry came roaring in with a lovely robust challenge and Mitchell felt some flying that he wouldn't have experienced before. Perfectly fair challenge, I'll give credit to the Hibs guy for getting straight back up as his team mates Macey and Bushiri were quite cringeworthy with their antics.

Dundee sniffing about Christian Doidge, surprised Hibs are letting him go. I'd be happy to see him here but can't see them wanting to strengthen our line-up when we're in close proximity.

I thought our game with Aberdeen would have been a shoo-in to be on the BBC, prob hoping to catch a potential upset. Nice to see Premier Sports keeping it fresh with the Old Firm ties. Hopefully we see a bumper crowd for this all things considered.

The opening game of the season was really exciting despite the final score, this fixture on the other hand was horrendous to say the least. The weather was obviously a massive hindrance to the proceedings and I think come half time you felt a 0-0 would be on the cards, even when Donnelly was sent off I didn't feel Hibs threatened at all. The tackle for the sending off happened right in front of me, I actually felt like Donnelly won the ball and it appeared that the Hibs player went to ground via his own momentum when he tried to kick it and Donnelly blocked it, in saying that it was a silly decision by Donnelly to fly into a challenge when he was on a yellow, it would be interesting to see that incident again but don't think I can stomach the highlights. Newell had 6 fouls and never merited a talking too. Van Veen should have buried his chance in the first half. In recent months I have enjoyed limiting the likes of Hearts and Hibs to heehaw chances at Fir Park. Anyway it'll be interesting to see where we are come Monday evening in regards to the team.

Went for McGinley, I thought this was one of his best games for us. A few times in the first half he covered well in defence, rare seeing him over the POD side in the first half. He was unfortunate in the second half as he nicked the ball off of the Hibs player just outside the box in a great position but the ref gave a soft free kick as per. Apart from the first few seconds of the game, I thought the defence as a whole had a solid game.

A new centre back/right back. Stacked in defence now, I wonder if Lamie is oot for a while. Apparently can play in midfield.

Hibs have added former Hearts winger Demetri Mitchell to their squad. I can't say I remember much of his spell at Tynecastle other than being a pacy winger. The Hibees looked devoid of creativity versus Cove in the Scottish Cup, we both limped throught without being great. So based on absolutely nothing at all I think we are going to pump them 3-0, Van Veen (x2) and Donnelly with another tae bender, one of those glorious nights under the lights where everything clicks.

The game was well before my time tbh but was this fixture not the catalyst for Alex Ferguson having a real destain for us? I'm sure he didn't take the loss well, I think it even got a brief mention in his autobiography.